AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She patted my belly. “I’ve seen how you eat when you’re sad is all.”
“I’m going to hazard a guess that he’s not all that sad with Gibson to cuddle up with at night,” Elle chimed in.
I could feel the heat in my cheeks as I led them down the stairs. They both giggled at my embarrassment, but that was okay. Kimmy waved as we passed the check-in desk to move into the bar. Several guests were here, sipping cocktails and nibbling on onion rings or shrimp in small baskets. Gibson had gotten us a table by the windows, the salty wind rushing through the screens to rustle the cocktail napkins our drinks rested on. He pulled out a chair for Katy as I did for Elle, then we sat, his arm coming around the back of my chair. I felt his fingertips stroking the back of my arm as the sun dropped behind the horizon, leaving a brilliant purple and red swatch of color on the sea that slowly melted away as darkness took hold.
Seated here in my family home with my two best friends and the man that I was rapidly growing frighteningly attached to feltsoright. If I could do this every night for the rest of my life, I would be a contented man. But life rarely gave us exactly what we wanted now, did it?
No, it did not, but it did, at times, give us exactly what we needed. And this night with these people in this auberge was precisely what I needed.
***
There are some stretches in life a soul lives out and wishes that they could stay in those golden moments. The next four days were those kinds of days.
I’d never experienced having a boyfriend—not sure if we were using that term officially yet, but it was the only word that felt right—that I could do things with in public. Hell, I’m not sure that the past relationships that I had had could even be coined as boyfriends. Most were convenient arrangements that led nowhere because how could they? I was so far back in the closet I was in peril of becoming the king of the moths. Watch out, Godzilla!
So, experiencing a holiday with a man at my side—a man that I could touch in public—was a wonderfully heady sensation. Gibson, bless his heart, was more than open to the PDAs I couldn’t quite stop making. He understood the giddiness of simply being yourself.
Elle and Katy were cozy friends, always touching and kissing cheeks, something that I’d not noticed before but was enjoying. The four of us felt more like two couples than a friendship and a budding relationship. I refused to dwell on whether this glorious thing with Gibson was doomed to end soon. Why invite heartache? I may never make another movie again. Despite the back-and-forth with Elle, my lawyers, and Budgie in the Dell Studios, the whole potential prospective partnering could fizzle at any moment. To be honest, I wasn’t sure I could handle another rejection right now. I was just starting to feel as if I was walking upright again. Ever since my outing, I’d been slumped over, a morose little monkey of a man. Now I felt more human.
I credited a lot of that to Gibson, but my father, Kimmy, and my two dear friends also got credit. As did a small but vocal section of my fandom. Surprisingly, during my social media hiatus, the Connor Days fans who were not bigoted poop flingers—I was really on an ape theme of late—had begun reaching out to not only me but Four Winds Studio. Elle had already warned me to expect the worst. The morning after we’d rented a cabin cruiser to take us out deep sea fishing and then parked in the bay to watch the fireworks, I awoke to a cell phone chirruping.
Gibson rolled over me as I moaned and whined to grab my phone. His weight was a pleasant heaviness that I wanted to enjoy for longer. Linking my arms around his middle, I began kissing his collarbone as his hard dick poked me in the belly. He smelled like sleep and wine. I let my lashes drift closed as a weak shaft of sun slanted through the window of his cabin.
“It’s—”
I hurried to capture his lips in a long, wet kiss that went on for ages.
“Nope, don’t want to know,” I whispered into his ear as I hooked my legs around his back, my heels resting on his lovely backside. “No outside world. Still on holiday. Fuck me?”
“Elias, it’s important. No one calls this early unless it’s something of import.” He placed the vibrating phone on my forehead. I scowled, and it slid to cover my eyes. I really wanted to get laid this morning. I had yet to get my stockings and garters on for him. They were balled up in my bag atop the dresser. We’d both been too exhausted to devote ourselves to the inaugural anal event after full days at sea or biking or canoeing or getting tipsy by the firepit.
Yesterday was all about the water and the Fourth. Sailing out to sea to fish for bluefin tuna off the coast had been the goal. We’d come up empty for the fishing but had spotted a pod of whales so that more than made up for the lack of fish in the live wells. Today was the last day Elle and Katy would be here, so there was no way I was going to start the day off with some bullshit.
“Is it my father?” I asked while swatting the phone from my cheek.
“No. It’s Elle, and we both know that woman does not rise and shine before ten.”
“For fuck’s sake,” I huffed as the call kept ringing. He smiled sadly, easing up to sit and rubbing his face. “Ugh, work stuff.” I sat up, dropped a kiss to his sun-freckled shoulder, and then tapped the green button to accept the call from Elle.
“Hey, sorry to wake you up so early. but it seems that Caiden Dell is an early riser,” Elle said in a rush. I could just pick out Katy in the background saying something about running shoes. Good Lord, was she expecting me to run with her again this morning? I’d been doing so, but right now I was still erect and hoping for a roll in the hay. Gibson gave me a brief touch, a stroke of his hand over my ratty hair, and pattered out of the bedroom to the bath.
I scrubbed at my face.
“And Caiden Dell is…” I asked as my sex scrambled brain tried to reboot.
“The head of Budgie in the Dell Studios in Manhattan. His call came in at four a.m., I shit you not. His rep said he was on site in Queens wrapping up a rom-com but had a day free today and could we hop a plane to do lunch. Elias, this is something huge that you should not let pass by. Especially after the rather crappy email I got from Four Winds legal department overnight.”
I glanced at the doorway that Gibson had just passed through. A sigh escaped me. I so didnotwant to end this long weekend by jetting off and leaving him. He’d taken time off to spend with me and my friends, closing the shop during one of the busiest weekends of the year. Fuck. Fucking fuck.
“Okay, let me focus here.” I got to my feet and walked to the window. A bumblebee flitted past. Another early riser, it seemed. “So Four Winds has said what exactly? I just want to make sure that they’re really not re-signing me.”
“They are not picking your contract back up. Citing breach of morals clauses etcetera. Things that we knew they would fall back on. I’ve not gotten the paperwork yet but Royce from legal said it’s pretty cut and dry. You did trigger the clause, so they feel it’s in their best interest not to re-sign you. They are being gracious enough to not ask you to pay for any collateral damage to their reputation. Also, they’re asking that you make a public announcement saying that your contract is up and you’re looking to spread your wings in more liberal films. They’ve got a press release ready to go as soon as we can get ours ready that will back up your version of things.”
“Well shit.” Even though I knew it was coming, it still sucked to hear it. “Okay, yeah, we can work on that release on the way to New York.”
“Excellent. I’ll touch back with Caiden Dell’s PA and tell them we’re looking forward to doing lunch. Please make sure your face is sexy scruff and not just scruffy. Also, wear something bright. This is a happy occasion, Elias. It might be a second chance and those don’t come often or easily from the film industry.”
Of course. I knew that. Generally, once an actor’s reputation was ruined, they didn’t get a chance to redo things. And while I hated that Four Winds was cutting me loose, I got it. I’d lied to them for years. That was on me. No more lies now. I was out and proud and I was not going back into that damn closet ever again.
